KRA Loses Ksh 582M Case to Foreign Businessman

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Times Tower, KRA headquarters in Nairobi
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The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has lost a case where it was seeking to collect Ksh 582 million from a Danish businessman based in Narok County. 

KRA had filed the suit against Peter Bonde claiming that he did not disclose the source of over Ksh 1 billion deposited in his accounts between 2008 and 2014. 

The money was dubbed an undisclosed income which was then subjected to income tax and principal tax with KRA adding penalties and interests to demand Ksh 582 million. KRA also accused him of filing nil returns between 2008 and 2010. 

The businessman, on his end, argued that he received the money from his relatives, friends and his businesses based abroad. 

Kenya Revenue Authority Offices along Mombasa Road, Nairobi.
Kenya Revenue Authority Offices along Mombasa Road, Nairobi.
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He opposed KRA's claims that the money was raised from profits made by his Kenyan companies based in the tourism sector. 

The Tax Appeals Tribunal ascertained that the taxman failed to prove the allegations labelled against Bonde and rejected KRA's bid to collect the Ksh 582 million it was demanding. 

“The standard of proof in fraud is distinctly higher than the normal standard of the balance of probability and the respondent has not attained or satisfied that standard,” said the tribunal.

The decision by the tribunal comes a few days after KRA was also barred from collecting a 25% tax in a row with a Tanzanian businessman in a case relating to the importation of glass bottles. 

In August 2020, KRA's Commissioner-General Githii Mburu lamented that unscrupulous individuals and organised crime perpetrators hatched tactics to conduct business without paying due taxes, leaving the agency no other alternative other than apprehending them.

It launched investigations against 1,309 companies and wealthy individuals who owe the government Ksh 259 billion.

"We lose money every year and the entities mentioned have been earmarked for further investigations and legal action for non-compliance. To mitigate against these crimes, tax authorities and government agencies dealing in financial investigations have heightened efforts to outsmart the tax cheats," Mburu stated in a notice seen by Kenyans.co,ke.

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KRA agents and police officers inspect a truck seized with suspicious goods in Isiolo County on May 18, 2018
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